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After a long planing process and preparation we startet our journey to Landevisiau on 5th of June with 3 Saab J105 and one C130 Hercules. At arrival we were very warm welcomed by the french Navy as well as by some comrades of our austrian advanced party which arrived some days prior.

In the following two weeks we had many flights every day which where accompanied by great but cool atlantic influenced weather. One flight every day was a COMAO in which several types of aircraft of different nations took part. Each Mission was planned on one day and actually flewn on the following day.

Within our technical capabilities we were able to maximize the training output for our pilots and achieve a big learning effect by the exchange with other nations.

After we returned to Linz Hörsching, we finished the exercise in a big debriefing in which we summed up of all experiences.

After hours of Preparation of the Aircraft, about 20h. for painting, 40h for airbrushing (by www.artcore-airbrush.at) and many more steps, our new painting project was completed just before the Airpower16. The Presence of Katushiko Tokunaga is obvious by looking at the following pictures

After intensive weeks of training, preparation and organization for the Tiger Fly-in our squadron deployed with seven aircraft to Zeltweg Airbase. Since our arrival till the end of the whole airshow, we were accompanied by great weather.

While on Thursday there still was a lot of preparation work to do, we could welcome the first foreign tiger crews and aircraft on Wednesday. As well as some photo missions were executed in which Katushiko Tokunaga showed his competences.

After a stressful day, we together with our guests let the evening finish by a visit of the F1 RedBull Ring in Spielberg.

During the whole day in Thursday trainings and rehearsal flights took place while we finalized the Tiger Area and made some preparations for the Tiger BBQ in the evening.

In the meanwhile all participants made it to Zeltweg and so we could welcome a lot of Tiger crews at the BBQ, who found the way through our new inflatable Tigerhead Gate-guard.

The morning of the first day of the airshow, was shaped by finding a way though the mass of arriving visitors to get to the morning briefing.

The Displays of our Saab-105OE were a historical and a 4-ship formation, as well as a solo performance.

For the Leader of the historical Jet-Formation, our squadron comrade “Falco”, the most difficult part was, to find a way how to combine all the different aircraft performances in one display. (esp. Draken and Fouga Magista) Each one of the pilots had a lot of experience which was very helpful and ensured a great performance. The Display consisted of three overflights of a formation which might be never seen in this composition again.

The second act of our squadron was the 4-ship display under the lead of our CO “Lucky”. He showed a precise performance and together with his Nr.2 “Rapa”, Nr.3 “Devil” and Nr.4 “Homer” he let the memory of Karo-Ass awake.

Our last flying part was the Solodisplay of “Cherry” who presented impressive Aerobatics to the audience.

During the displays the visitors nearly overrun the Tiger static Area. All the tiger crews tried hard to answer als the questions of interested visitors.

As a relax area for some brakes, the Tiger Crew Area provided shady seat opportunities and cold drinks out of the www.cubox.at, as well as a free wifi. The Area could be entered though the Tigerhead Gate-Guard as already mentioned above.

On Saturday at 1830 the last display of the Airpower 16 took place. Out of every perspective the airshow was a big success. 240 aircraft – more than 300.000 Visitors – and no accident was the magnificent résumé.

… is the title of Don Verhees’ new Book in which he writes not only about his eventful live as a soldier in the USAF. Those who are interested can also find a lot about the development of the Tiger Association over the decades. Definitely a recommendation for all fans who want to take a look behind the scenes of air force life and the Tiger Association.

More Pictures and a short introduction by Don as well as orders under: donverhees.com

Currently the airfield Linz-Hörsching experiences „Days of Thunder“. The reason for this is the Austrian Tiger Squadron preparing for the Airpower 16, which takes place at the 2nd and 3rd of September 2016.

Almost on a daly basis, experienced squadron pilots are practising the fine art of flying in 4-ship formation, with four Saab105 OEs. High temperatures as well as tight formations of only some meters distance between the jets, demand everything from the pilots. Detailed briefings before and maximum focus during the flight make the swarm look like a balanced and harmonious unity cutting through the air.

From 19.09. to 20.09.2015 the Austrian Tiger squadron participated with two Saab-105Ö at NATO Days & Czech Air Force Days 2015. The formation deployed on Thursday 17.09.2015 from their homebase HÖRSCHING as planned to OSTRAVA (Mosnov airport). The deployment was supported by an Austrian Air Force C-130 Herkules for personnel and material transportation. We made the flight at perfect weather conditions and were able to reach the destination exactly according to schedule. After leaving the runway and an affectionate „Vítaný“ from air traffic control, the formation splitted. Our solo display aircraft RF-26 in tiger colour scheme joined the apron for dynamic display aircrafts and the second one taxied to the static display lane on the other side of the airport. Because of our early arrival, only few aircrafts were already parking at the event area. Although, after a short period of time, we observed many participators approaching MOSNOV. Obviously the events focus was especially on ground show, nevertheless there were some very seldom and interesting aircrafts like B-52H Stratofortress, CV-22B Osprey, E3A Avacs, KC-10 Tanker, etc…